Digimon: Lost and mindless
by Before Sunrise
Summary: Tai - after leaving the Digital World behind him, a year later, he returns.
1. Chapter 0

-1There's nothing much to life anymore than to take it easy and relax.

All I really do anymore is lay on the couch watching TV all day. Same news report, same weather report, same everything. Although what do you expect? I don't keep in contact with any of the other people mostly because I'm just lazy; the other bit is because I never really got a chance to see them again. Despite knowing Matt and his little brother, my love interest - Sora, it's just been me and my little sister.

It's been about a year since I've last visited the digital world. I try not to think about it much, because it brings back so many tearful memories - yet it also brings back hopeful ones. Kari, my little sister acts as though none of it has ever happened; she never talks about it - not even mentioned it once. Although as a sigh, despite the clear blue sky, I hope it carries forth onward to the friends I have - human and digimon.

I sleep in most of the day and I don't really attend school right now because it's summertime. Though lots of homework, I don't really bother doing it yet. Yeah, again, I'm lazy. Though my dreams are filled with strange noises, I'm always awakened by my television being left on through the day. You know, being loud and such. I turn down the volume every time I step foot into the living room always wondering who turns it on so loud. Meh, I don't let it bother me much. I usually find myself alone in the mornings not knowing where Kari or my mother is. Another strange thing is that I try to go outside myself, but it seems that the door is constantly locked from the outside. Strange, as I said before, but I never let it get to me.

It's been about two days being locked inside my apartment not knowing when someone is going to come home. I never bothered trying to call for help because nobody answered. My phone was always picking up static whenever I made a phone call, strangely enough. Though, it didn't really bother me because my kitchen was stockpiled with food and drinks for me to last for at least another two weeks. Although, I knew I had to get out of here somehow.

The third day…

A knock at the door, "Knock! Knock!" I don't here it. I'm fast asleep and I try not to here anything. It gets louder, "Knock! Knock!" I pretend I'm sleeping because I'm truthfully scared. As calm as I was a couple of days ago, this has never happened to me before. "Knock! Knock!" again goes the knocking at the door. "Who is it?" I respond. The knocking stops. As for a brief moment, I look outside my window I see a bird fly by then disappear into thin air. I was more afraid now than any other time I was in my life - at least I think so. I get out of my bed, already dressed and I look for signs of someone, anyone. "Ring! Ring!" goes my phone. I answer it.

"Hello?" I said calmly.

"Hi" the voice responds.

There's silence.

"Who is this?"

"Who do you think this is?"

"Um…I really don't know, could you give me a guess?" I ponder.

"It's Sora you silly!" she giggled.

"Uh…hi…what's so funny?" I was slightly embarrassed. I haven't heard her voice for at least a year now.

"Because, it's strange…"

"What's strange?"

"Everyone seems so…" the static picks up again in my phone.

By this time I developed a slight headache, but enough for me to drop the phone. I lean against my wall, with one hand holding my head. Also at this time, I begin to hear Matt's voice. Not just him though, everyone at once begins talking in my head. In my head, or anywhere; out of thin air you might even say. I hear them say one by one:

"Everyone seems to hate me" Says Matt

"Everyone seems so stupid" Says Izzi

"Everyone seems so dishonest" Says Mimi

"Everyone seems so unreliable" Says Joe

"Everyone has no hope for the world anymore" Says T.K.

"Everyone seems so sad" Says Sora

At first I was hearing these voices in order, listening to whose voice was saying these things to me, as if I was talking on the phone. The voices seem to go faster, and faster, and more garbled too. I couldn't comprehend what anyone was saying at this point until my headache turned into a migraine as I quietly heard Kari's voice:

"The world is so dark…"

By now I've forgotten who was on the phone, lying on the floor curled up in a fetal position, clutching my head. But as soon as Kari's voice lifted from the air, I was at peace again. My pain has gone and I lifted myself off the floor to try and learn what had just happened in these few moments in my life. I laid down on the couch, trying to comprehend everything. I turn on my television but it's nothing but static. I turn it off, and throw the remote on the floor.

"What does this have to do with everything right now?" I asked myself. "I just feel so…alone…" Then it hit me.

Courage. What I needed was courage. But as far as I remember, we all gave up our crests a long time ago. We had no such thing anymore. I couldn't possibly have any courage left. All that was, was to just let my digimon evolve. It had nothing to do with any real courage - at least I don't think so. But, as I sigh, I suppose it is time to get out my apartment, get outside and learn what everything is about.

I poise myself in front of my door. I begin to rush in as If to tackle it. I've never really played football before but I'm honestly giving it my best shot. I go head first through my door as I bash my way to the outside world. I did it. I finally got outside. Without thinking I took the stairs down my apartment to the street right outside my apartment. Nobody was to be seen in miles even if I tried to look.

I wandered the streets of Tokyo, finding no life but myself in sight. I wander and I wander, but there's nothing really to be seen. Not even cars are on the streets.

It's been a good one hour of walking nonstop looking for someone to come by and rescue me. I was the leader of the group at one point and I honestly felt I had more control and more power I did then than I do now.

I took my digivice out of my pocket (took it with me just in case), and I looked at is closely. It seemed to display a map of some kind. It showed me where I was positioned on the map and a supposed location of where I was supposed to go. So I followed the map, because hey, like I got anything else better to do huh. I follow the map for a good long two hour ordeal and I end up, at all places, at an intersection. Except something was strange about it. Well, I only thought that because my digivice was going off like an alarm.

All in a flash in begins to rain, though I'm not getting wet. The closer I walk towards to the center of the intersection, the harder it rains. As dry as I am, the streets fill with puddles of water very quickly. I walk ever more closer to the center and find myself thigh deep in water, though still dry. I stand in the center of the intersection, practically drowning in floods of water, though still breathing just fine.

The digivice reacts more, and has an arrow pointing upwards. Odd, so I look upwards into the sky. And as soon as I did I got sucked out of the pool of water, being lifted into the air at high speeds and I ascend further and further until, well, I pass out pretty much.

"Tai? Tai? Tai!" A voice calls me.

I slowly open my eyes.

"Ugh…wuh…huh?" I grunt. "Who's there? Where am I? I…" I fully open my eyes, as I'm staring directly into someone else's.

"Huh? Tai?" A familiar voice asks me. "Are you awake?" A feminine voice asks me.

It was obviously Sora's, but I tried to hold back my embarassment and excitement so I laid still and answered,

"Uh…yeah?" I smile.

"Oh, ok, thank goodness you're alright" Sora backs her face away from mine. Now I get a clearer view of where I am now. I sit up looking around me.

"Well…there's Sora, Matt, and Izzi" I try to look for other people. "I guess nobody else is here huh?"

"No, not even as slightly a smell" Izzi speaks up as he is on his laptop computer typing away. "You can almost guess though, where we are now"

"You mean…we're back? The digital world I mean" I look directly at Izzi, sitting across from me. I see Matt leaning his back up against a try looking away, and Sora laying on her back looking up into the sky.

"Yup! You bet your butt we are" Matt says coolly, but with a sigh.

"Nobody seems to know what the reason is to as why we're here again" Izzi says. "Our Digimon, aren't here for one…" Izzi stops typing on his computer, "But I did find these crests with colours that match our old crests but with a different design to them" Izzi hands me my new crest, with necklace and all.

I look at my crest intently. It appears to be in the shape of a…sphere it seems.

"As you probably have realized, our crests are all shapes for some odd signifigance that I cannot deduct at this very moment" Izzi excitedly says. "Our digivices have no information on them whatsoever, and one by one as we came here, none of us have encountered anyone who has given or let us have these crests"

"Hmm…" I scratch my head. "What are the other crests like?" I ask Izzi.

"Well - Sora has a cube, Matt has a pyramid, and I have a hexagon"

"Interesting…"

"Come on guys, all of us are here so lets get going and find some shelter, it's freezing" Matt exclaims. Of course he says this while not letting loose one sign of a shiver, as to keep his cool figure.

"Yeah, Matt, you said it - I'm kinda hungry myself" Sora stands up and stretches into the air.

Izzi packs up his laptop and reaches out for my hand.

"Need help, or are you fine getting up by yourself?" Izzi asks.

"No - Yeah, I'm fine, I'm fine" I tell Izzi as I push off the ground and stand up.

We all look at each other for a brief moment and head on outwards. Strangely enough the place where I woke up never really caught my attention before. It's a beach. Huh. Kinda like when I first came to the digital world.


	2. Chapter 1

-1"You know, I've begun to wonder…" Because we were all still wandering the earth of the digital world. I wanted to spark up a conversation to get my mind on our journey to find shelter while nobody else was able to pitch in a little talk here and there. "…what have you guys been doing since we came back from the digital world?" I waited for an answer, while listening to the crunching of the leaves beneath our feet while wandering through a forest.

"…well, now that you mention it…" Izzi starts up, "…I have been in contact with Joe lately, I've been asking him which college would be best to go to after graduation comes, because though I'm still young, it doesn't hurt to get a head start on things you know?"

And as if I could feel a vibe through the air, I could almost sense that Izzi was embarrassed by his statement. For a brief moment though, Izzi turns his head and looks in my direction as if to get acknowledgement of what he just said.

"Uh….yeah!" I acknowledging said.

Content, Izzi turns his head back the other way and continues his walk with the others.

It's almost been an hour and we've still found no sign of shelter whatsoever as we exited the forest and found ourselves upon a grassy meadow. No life could be seen, no human or Digimon for miles on end. So I decided to ask:

"Where are all the Digimon?" No answer. Just the rustle of our shoes brushing up against the grass in the meadow. "Wh…" I tried to ask again, but I stopped myself soon enough to empathize the fact that the other people in our group were probably as exhausted as I was and eager to find shelter as soon as possible.

The sun was setting in the sky, and it was getting dimmer and dimmer. Hours pass by, and we seem to have no sign of any shelter at all. At first I begin to think this is ridiculous, but I press on with the others on our trek. I wonder though, why nobody else was speaking besides Izzi. Why was he so compliant towards my question but nobody else was? It was almost as if Matt and Sora had something to hide as if it were a well kept secret between the both of them.

The sun has finally set and it has become chillier in the air. I could see my own breath - that's how cold it was. I decided to ask yet another interesting question of my own:

"Why don't we just stop now and rest? We haven't found any sign of any shelter whatsoever"

"Dude, no!" Matt raised his voice at me, "We can't just stop right now, after how far we've come, and just lie down, in the freezing cold, and freeze to death" Matt chattered through his teeth.

"Please…stop…you two…" Sora quietly said through her cold breath.

By now, I was getting fed up with this search. I don't know how long it's been and still, no sign of any shelter. I was ready to give up at any given moment. But it was at that same moment Izzi spotted something in the distance.

"Hey guys, look over there!" Izzi pointed with his finger straight ahead of us. We all looked and saw a small flame alight beside with what seemed to be a building of some sort.

Without any second thoughts, we all rushed towards the building as if we all had a sudden burst of energy within us.

So I followed suit too.

"Finally! We made it!" Matt said excitingly.

There was a wooden door on the front of the building with a handle on it. Beside it, there was a flame aloft in thin air, as if to guide wary travelers to this building for a rest. So, without further waiting Matt pushed on the door. But there was no budge. Confused, Matt tried again, but there was no budge on the door.

"Hmph, maybe it's stuck a little, I'll try harder" Matt put more effort on pushing the door inwards but still it wouldn't budge.

"Maybe you have to pull it" I suggested.

"Maybe you're right…" Matt tugged on the door handle, and yet the door wouldn't budge. "What the hell is this?!" Matt yelled, "We came all this way to find a place to rest, and yet when we get here, this door won't even open!"

"Now calm down Matt, maybe there's a secret way of opening it, like a switch or something…maybe there's a way around the back - Tai, you go check it out, and I'll look around here to find a latch or something" Izzi inquisitively said.

Agreed to do so, I ran around the back of the building. It wasn't that big a building, so it didn't take me that many steps to get to the back. There were no windows, no sign of any "secret switch", as Izzi thought, nor was there any other door. As I was about to head around back to the front, I saw a small pond at the corner of my eye. I turned around and thought it to be strange. With my hunch, I decided to go investigate. I gazed into the pond, yet I couldn't see my reflection in it. There was, indeed, light, but very little of it. Maybe that's why…

Just then, I had that feeling again. Just like in the apartment. My headache came back. I held my head with my right hand. I thought nothing of it except when I began to walk away from the pond, the headache got even worse. I started to hold my head with both of my hands and walked backwards towards that small pond. As close as I got to the pond, the less pain I felt in my headache. I knew something was up - this can't be just a coincidence.

I gazed back into the pond again. I could see something faintly this time, though not my reflection. I looked closer. Then as if I was being sucked into the pond, I felt almost as if my mind was being sucked in, instead of my body…kind of like an out-of-body experience you might say.

Everything was black. I could still feel as if I was somewhere, but I didn't know where though. I could faintly feel a sound vibration, but what was it though?

"Hello…?" My voice echoed.

"Hi, hello" Someone answered.

"Who are you?" First thing you gotta know about something weird happening is that if somebody answers, you gotta know who they are. Yet it was silent again. I decided to try again, "Where am I?"

"Ah, now you are asking the right questions" The voice responded. "You are nowhere in particular"

"What?" I was confused.

"You are nowhere" The voice confirmed.

"Yes, I know that, but why am I nowhere?"

"Because you are destined to be…nowhere" The voice changed pitch.

"Why am I destined to be nowhere?" I knew these questions would all lead…somewhere.

"That, I do not know"

"Ok…"

"I know you are confused, Tai, because you only choose to be," The voice changed pitch again, "What you need to realize is that all you need to have and know is with the people you are with right now…except for one"

"Two of the people I'm with then,"

"Correct"

"What do I need to have from them?"

"It should be obvious…er…I do not think you are asking the right questions to me"

"Then what kind of questions should I be asking?"

"Look, it is simple…and that is all there is to it" Before I could answer, the voice continued, "You are weak…weaker than anyone else…and to increase your strength you need to heighten your senses…_feel_ your senses"

"This isn't making any sense for me" Hey, me trying to be funny.

"What is it that is troubling you…NOW?" The voice changed it's tone to a more serious one.

"I need to know where I am?"

"No, simpler"

"I need to know who you are?"

"Simpler"

"I need to know how to get myself out of here?"

"SIMPLER!" The voice demanded.

"Well, geez! You gotta work with me here, I just came with my three buddies just to find somewhere to rest, and the door doesn't even open…and I come to the back to find myself in THIS place and…"

"YES! You have figured it out…the KEY to your success is to find out what troubles you most, presently…if you find things too complicated, you will find yourself astray…remember, you need to strengthen your courage, friendship, and knowledge before you could even compare to the others…just remember the three signs I shall pronounce to you: Water, Fire, and Electricity"

And with that I awoke to find myself laying underneath the stars beside the pond I was gazing at. I rubbed my eyes a bit and got up. I soon panicked though, 'what if the others have gone to search for me and though I was lost?' so I rushed back around the other side, only to find Matt rushing at the wooden door to bust it open.

"Have you found any other way inside, Tai?" Izzi asked me.

I suppose I wasn't out long.

"No, I haven't"

"Dammit! Now we'll never get inside" Matt scowled.

I could see Matt sweating from all his hard work but…wait…something is happening to me. The headache is coming back, but it doesn't hurt…I can just feel my head pounding. My eyes…all I can see is black and white! What's going on?

But then…Something happened…

Just like I was in the empty space, I…"sensed" that voice. I can "sense" something else too. I looked at Matt intently, and words came rushing to my head as I began to speak them aloud thusly:

"Matt…push…down…push…forward…" I said in a trance. Then my sight returned to normal.

"What did you say Tai?" Matt said while looking at me.

"Um…push down, push forward" I said with more confidence.

"Wait, what? Say that again…"

"No, Matt! I think Tai was come up with something here…there's no secret way through this door, it's just a trick…like those trick windows where you have to push it slightly in one direction, while pushing it upwards" Izzi told Matt.

"OH! I remember now" Sora exclaimed. "Yeah, Matt, give it a try!"

"Well…alright" And with that, Matt grabbed onto the door handle while pushing it downwards, then pushed it forward. The door began to creak open slowly, but it opened nevertheless.

"Alright! Good job Matt!" Sora was excited. Though I could almost assure she was more excited to get something to eat and rest.

Hey, wait…wasn't I the one who came up with the idea in the first place? Ah well, doesn't matter now.

We all went inside with intent to eat food and rest, and by George we did. There was just enough food for all of us in there and just the right number of beds. Sora flopped onto her bed, not minding that boys were sleeping almost quite close to her. Almost instantly she fell asleep. Matt, wrapped up in his blanket, and snuggled into his bed quite comfortably and fell asleep as well, just as instantly. Izzi, with his computer, typed some things in just before he'd call it a day.

"You know Tai…" Izzi began to speak, "It was smart of you to think of how to get that door open…not even I thought of that right away" Izzi smiled, turned off his laptop and went to sleep.

Even though with no windows in the house, I could still faintly feel and almost see the stars outside. Kinda like I can sense them. I called it a night and forgot about everything that had happened, because that's for another time.


	3. Chapter 2

-1We all awoke the next morning - rested, and ready to embark on our new destination. Question is, where? We all met in the kitchen, which was bare now, because we ate all the food that was left. I was concerned for a bit that whoever owned this place may be upset that we took all their food; however, it began to seem strange now that how everything in this place was conveniently placed for the four of us. Also, what happened last night to me still remains a mystery. Questions were arising in my head one by one. I almost caught a slight headache from thinking too much into this, but I knew, this time, that this headache was just due to stress. We all sat at the table in the kitchen which, conveniently, had four chairs placed around the square table.

Izzi opened his laptop and started to type. While Matt was stretching, and Sora was yawning, I was still half asleep.

"Well…" Izzi began, "…Ever since we all came here, back to the digital world, I started working on a program to track down other digivices"

"Now, why would we want that?" Matt questioned.

"Because there is a high probability that the others have come back as well: Mimi, Kari, T.K., and Joe"

"Right…so how's that been going?" Matt and Izzi began to converse with one another.

"Well so far it's been successful, my laptop can already sense the four of our digivices in this room - though I can't seem to find anyone else's"

"Well that's great…I could really see what my little brother was up to" Matt mumbled to himself.

"For one, we need a direction - someplace to go to further out our investigation"

"What, so we have an investigation going on now?"

"Yes, Matt, at least NOW we do" Izzi started to sound more serious, "I'm sure you all have been wondering, why are we back, what's with the new crests, and most importantly, where are all the Digimon"

"Yeah, I've been wondering that myself" Sora piped in.

"It is a mystery…for one we are in no grave danger, at least we don't think so at the moment…I'm sure Myotismon hasn't come and resurrected himself like he did several times"

"That sure was a pain" Matt groaned.

"Well fear no more, I'm sure we finished him off for good last time" I said, almost as if to mock Matt.

We all laid back in our chairs, wondering what we should do next. I actually wanted to tell everyone about what had happened to me last night. Though, I wasn't exactly sure how to bring it up in a conversation.

Then all of a sudden, Izzi starts in:

"Well actually…" Izzi paused to think, then continued, "I might have a clue as to where we're supposed to go next"

"Really?" Matt asked.

"Yes…theoretically - because not only did I program my computer to find other digivices, I also hooked up my own digivice to my computer and it came up with this" Izzi turned around his laptop to show everyone what he was talking about.

The laptop showed an image of a map of some sort. A dot on the map indicating where we were now, and a destination to show where we're supposed to go.

"Give me your digivice Sora" Izzi politely requested.

"Uh, okay" Sora handed her digivice to Izzi.

Izzi plugged the digivice into his laptop and almost instantly he said,

"Ah, now it's different - see…" Izzi turned his laptop around again, and this time it showed a dot where Sora currently was, and a destination to a different point on the map. "As you can see, our digivices were somehow reprogrammed, and set to tell us that we, indeed, need to go to these places, though not knowing in which order" Izzi was going on a roll here, we all thought he was on to something. As he continued, he said, "I bet that these places that we are supposed to go to, will tell us more about why we're here and what we need to do to advance on our journey, since we have no other means of returning to the human world"

We were all amazed at what Izzi deducted from this simple set of information. I could tell by looking in the faces of the other two, that they were excited, as if they were waiting for a moment to come back to the digital world and start another adventure together. I admit, that I, too, was excited as well. As strange as it may seem, from all that has happened up to this point, we were on to something…something that would define our future for us.

"Hey, guys…do you smell something…burning?" Sora sniffed with her nose.

"Hey, yeah, something does smell like…fire…and it's pretty close too…do you think it's this place?" Matt said.

"Woah! Guys! There's a fire in here! We need to get outside quick!" I exclaimed as I saw a small fire coming into the kitchen, almost right beneath our feet. Without question, we all ran outside.

Outside of the building, as we saw it burn down to ash, though no sign of smoke. We were all terrified. Nothing like this has happened to us. Why was the building burning down, and who did it? Somebody, must have been targeting us. I knew there was someone, or something, else here besides us.

"Haw, haw, haw!" We heard a cackle come from behind us.

We all turned in unison to find a creature, about half our size, with a torch in one hand. He looked red, and had claws for hands and feet. He also was wearing a jester's hat on top of his head. He had sharp teeth which posed a grin on his face. With his beady little round eyes he looked up at us and once more cackled,

"Haw, haw, haw!" He fell over from his laughter.

The four of us looked at each other, puzzled. Matt, enraged, said,

"What the hell dude! You trying to kill us or something? You think this is funny?"

The little creature stood up again, wiped the tears of laughter from his face and said,

"Honestly, yes" he tried to hold back his laughter.

"Yes, what? Wanting to kill us, or you think this is funny?"

"Obviously, I thought that was pretty funny…did you see the look on your face…especially you…haw, haw, haw!" he pointed at Matt while laughing again.

"Why you little sneak…" Matt rushed towards the small creature ready to punch him, but the creature dodged him and hopped to the side a bit, still laughing. "Stay still you little punk!" Matt threw more punches at him, still missing.

"Matt, calm down…please…" Pleaded Sora. But without listening, Matt still threw more punches at the little laughing thing.

Minutes later, Matt was exhausted. Putting his hands on his knees huffing for some air. Because rage just does that to you.

"Why…you…" Matt puffed, "If you…if we, only had our Digimon…" Then the red creature stopped laughing. He went up to Matt, looked at him, straight in the eyes and said,

"Well you don't, do you?" He said like the little punk that he is. "You aren't so tough now, without your precious Digimon huh?"

Matt started getting pissed, but couldn't help but restraining from trying to punch him because he began to understand that if we wasted more energy, he'd faint.

"What are you trying to say?" Matt said, while getting a hold of himself.

"Have you ever thought, just once, that your Digimon was defending justice and not you? Huh? Even once, man?"

"Well…"

"Well, no!" The imp interrupted. "The only reason, the Digimon needed a partner was so that they could digivolve, and even then some could do that without you in the first place!"

"But they needed our help to defend the digital world from destruction"

"Well, I do admit, the select Digimon each of you had were some of the good ones, and yes, there were some evil Digimon that needed to be rid of this world, but besides the point though, to put it simply, without your Digimon…you're nothing! Nothing!" The imp said all in one breath.

We were all shocked and appalled by what this little guy was telling us. I started to feel my heart sink into my stomach. I kind of admit that what he was saying had some truth to it. But I must say, that what he was saying wasn't entirely true. There must be someway I could prove to this guy how our Digimon DID need us, and how we needed them back!

The creature looked up at all of us and turned to face me.

"Hey, you!" He said, pointing at me, "What's your name?"

"Um…I'm Tai - but who are you? Are you a Digimon?"

"Nope! None of the sort - I'm just called Mischief…I cause mischief to those who deserve it"

"You think we deserved to be killed?" I started raising my voice at him.

"Naw…I knew you guys would escape" He said with confidence, as if he planned everything from the beginning. "Besides that though…I want to tell you a secret of mine"

"What's that?" I asked.

"Though I cause mischief, I am very weak…weaker than all of you…if it weren't for my agility, I'd be dead…even by this guy right here" he pointed at Matt. "I can die from a single punch, that is my secret"

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I want you to prove me wrong…through all the time I have been observing you four, I wondered if the hope of the digital world could rest again in your hands"

"…" I said nothing; listening. I knew he was going to say something important any second now. Something that we all needed to hear from him.

"There is a new evil…he has caught most of the Digimon of this world and converted them into data…this…thing - he absorbs data and he grows stronger from it" The imp came closer to me, "He wants to create the digital world into a utopia for his own creations…I am one of his creations…he can create anything with the power he has been given now" It almost started to seem like this guy was about to cry, "I escaped from being his slave…I sent a signal to the digi-destined on the human world, hoping it would reach them…though for the most part I had help from several others" He turned around, his back facing me and said more, "He tried to stop me…he knows everything about all his creations…I used to be strong, but now he turned me weak…he knows that the digi-destined has potential to defeat him, so that's why he tried to stop all of us"

"Izzi, we know now what we must do" I looked at Izzi, Sora, then Matt, confirming the destiny we have been given to us now.

"BUT!…" The imp turned around and pointed at me with his torch, "I really need to see if you have what it takes, to defeat him without the support of your Digimon…do you really think you can stop him without aid?"

I stepped forward.

"Yes, I think we all do"

"Then I challenge you, Tai…defeat me, and I will let you go on…" The imp looked very serious.

"Tai, no…you're going to kill him, you heard what he said…" Sora said with concern.

"Sooner or later, I will die…it would be better if I died with honor" The imp stated.

"Alright…I will fight you…" I stepped forward, ready to fight him.

"But Tai…" Sora whined.

"No, Sora…I must prove that we CAN do this…this is the only way" I didn't look back at the others, I only had my eyes focused on Mischief, himself.

Without warning, the imp jumped and flew at me. I tried to defend myself with my fists. I attempted to punch him before he could reach me, but he disappeared. I knew this was another one of his tricks. I looked down at my feet and there he was, pointing the flame from the torch in my face.

"Augh!" It felt really hot - I didn't want to get burned.

I tried to kick him, but yet again, he disappeared. I felt weight on top of my head, and he stared into my face, pointing the flame at me. I tried to shake him off, but he wouldn't budge. It was getting hot in my face, I thought he was going to burn me. I threw a punch on top of my head, missing, as I figured, and bonking myself on the head. The imp was a couple feet in front of me, looking as serious as ever. I didn't know what to do now. With every movement I take, he avoids it. I couldn't forfeit now, there had to be some way. He keeps shoving that flame in my face as if her were to burn me but…wait…

A…flame…? I felt another headache coming on. But it was a strange one again. I looked, and everything turned black and white again. I could faintly hear Izzi, and Matt cheering me on, but it sounded all distorted. Suddenly, thoughts came rushing to my head. I began to think,

"If I can't hit him where he is, then why not hit him where he isn't"

My headache disappeared and colour returned to my eyes. This had to be a sign. I knew now what to do. I ran towards the imp and threw a punch and he disappeared. With haste, I turned around and there he was. Without thinking I threw another punch at him, and he disappeared. I turned around again and saw him there and I threw another punch at him and he disappeared, yet again, but this time, I punched into the air above my head, and I heard a slight, "oof" sound. I think I did it. I had to have done it.

I turned around and saw him lying on the ground, gasping for air.

"I knew you could do it Tai…I knew you could…" He said with his last breath as he disappeared, yet again. Though there was no sign of him after that. I think he was gone for good this time.

I looked at Sora, and although she seemed down, she seemed slightly relieved. As if she's glad that it's finally over.

I looked at Matt.

"Good going, Tai…that was pretty good" He gave me a thumbs up for my performance.

"Good thinking Tai…hitting him where he was going to be…smart - even for me" Izzi spoke to me. "More importantly, we now know the danger that lies ahead of us, and we now know what we must do.

"Right" we all said in unison.

"Matt, give me your digivice for a second" Izzi asked.

"Sure thing" Matt handed over his digivice to Izzi.

Izzi scanned the digivice into his computer and said,

"We will first go to Matt's destination…as it appears to be closer than the other two - except yours Tai, do you want to give me your digivice?"

"What? Nah, we'll go to Matt's destination first" I agreed to go there first, because I wasn't ready yet to experience what was in store for me once we got to where I needed to go.

"Sure thing" Izzi packed away his laptop.

Without question, Izzi pointed in the direction we must first go to get going to Matt's place. And with that we were off.

I hope Mischief is doing well elsewhere. That was a good battle I must say. Pretty darn good. Heh, maybe he's causing mischief for others, wherever he goes.


	4. Chapter 3

-1On our way, together, on another journey freshly picked for the destined, the four of us: Izzi, Matt, Sora, and myself, Tai. A lot has happened up to this point. The strange occurrence when we were in the human world, how we were sent here to the digital world, which we just found out which was done by Mischief, the red little imp and a select few others of whom we still need to meet. I have headaches when I see fire and water, my vision changes to black and white and I turn into some sort of psychic, somehow knowing what to do next. Though, I still haven't told anyone else about this. Plus…our Digimon, were captured by 'this new evil' who absorbs Digimon as data, and grows stronger from it. Of course, we don't know which Digimon, but we can only hope that ours weren't. Besides that though, we were heading in a new direction, a direction to stop this new evil and bring the digital world back to peace. First, we were heading on off to Matt's destination, only because it was the closest out of the four of us…except for mine, which we don't know yet.

"Ah, I'm glad today is such nice weather" Sora smiled, while glancing up into the sky, and looking at the sun.

"Yeah, you said it" Matt commented.

Is it just me, or am I the only one who still thinks about Mischief's death and how it affected us and our journey? Well, maybe it's because the rest of them have decided that it would be best to move on and remember that we have a new goal now.

"Yo, Tai!" Matt called out to me.

"Yeah?" I answered.

"What was it like for you…you know, before you came to the digital world again?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it was weird…everyone back home started acting like jerks - they were calling me names, pushing me around…agh, it was awful!"

"Really?" I wondered.

"Well, when I was out, it seemed that the general public just turned into idiots - not to be offensive or anything, but nobody seemed to know even the simplest things! Like, like how to operate a toaster, or even how to drive a car! It was a mess!" Izzi started to act a little offended himself.

"Wow, that was quite something" Sora said while she looked on ahead. "Everyone was acting really depressed and sad - it almost seemed like everyone had just given up on the world and had no energy, it was really creepy"

"Woah…that is something" Matt commented. "What about you, Tai?"

"Well…it's nothing really…I was just, well, I was lonely" I muttered.

"What do you mean?" Matt asked.

"Nobody was there, nobody was around…it seemed that everyone had left the planet and abandoned me or something…" I was beginning to remember how horrid it was, that experience.

Everyone fell silent after I said that. It either seemed that nobody seemed to care, or that they all seemed to think, that, too, was really creepy.

"Caw, caw!" we heard a bird fly above us.

"Well, it seems like there is other forms of life here besides Mischief, ourselves, and the Digimon" I said while looking at the bird pass us overhead.

"Strange…" Izzi pondered, "There never really were birds here before…"

"Are you suggesting that it's another one of those creations?" I asked Izzi.

"Maybe…everyone stop moving and stay still" Izzi ordered.

Everyone came to a halt, as if waiting for something to happen. We could feel the nice, fresh breeze of the wind flowing through our hair. It really felt nice. Nothing seemed to happen though.

"Uh, are we done yet?" Matt groaned.

"Hm, my mistake…let's continue everyone" Izzi once again commanded.

We walked on through another forest. It was really nice the scenery. The lush trees with the big leaves on them. The sun shining through the open spaces, leaving a path of light to touch the ground. The bushes around us were ripe with berries on them, though not sure if safe to eat. We stroll through the forest at a leisurely pace - no hurry, we can save the digital world at any pace we want.

"Caw, caw!" we heard another bird fly above us. But, we paid it no mind.

Soon, out of the forest and the green grass started to gradually disappear. It turned into soil, and dirt beneath our feet. The scenery started to change. It turned from a grassy, lush paradise, to a barren land of just rocks, pebbles, and dirt.

The sun's heat got stronger on us, but still, with the wind blowing past our bodies, it was cool enough, so we didn't feel too hot.

Soon enough, we came to a sudden halt. We found ourselves near a long, and giant pit, straight into the ocean. The fall seemed deadly though. There was a bridge however, connecting the two sides of the pit together.

With enough courage, we all started to cross the bridge slowly. It was rickety, and it swayed back and forth a lot. Sora let out a yelp, because she was afraid as if it were to suddenly throw us over. Matt, grabbed her hand, and she felt safer again, and crossed the rest of the bridge with him. I kinda felt jealous for some reason…oh well, whatever.

After we crossed the bridge to the other side, we continued as our feet were kicking up the dust on the ground into our faces. The wind wasn't helping either, as it was blowing dust into our faces as well. Through the dust, however, I could faintly see a lighthouse in the distance, with the light going around in circles.

"A lighthouse? Out here? Why?" I said aloud.

"That, apparently, is where our destination is" Izzi pointed out on his map that was displayed on his laptop.

We kicked up the pace a little faster, because we couldn't wait to see what was waiting ahead of us. Sooner, than later, we arrived at the lighthouse.

"Hmm…is it just me, or is the light, that is coming from the lighthouse, blue?" Izzi asked everyone.

"Hey, it is!" Matt answered. "Let's go check it out inside!"

We opened the door to the lighthouse, and with another yelp from Sora, crows started flying out of it, by the dozen it seemed.

"Ahh!" Sora screamed.

The birds kept coming out as if it would never stop.

"Caw, caw, caw, caw, caw!" We all heard from the many birds that flew out of the place.

Soon, the numbers decreased, and one by one, the final crow left the building.

"Well!" Izzi acted surprised. "I, uh…guess we can head on in now!"

And so we did, without a moments waste. We ascended the stairs further and further up the spiral staircase. It seemed to go on forever, I thought. I could hear myself huffing and puffing for some air, as I carefully leaned over the side of the staircase that it was going to be a fatal fall if any of us were to trip up.

"Hey guys! Here's the top!" Matt shouted, as he booked it up the rest of the stairs.

The rest of us followed with me, being the last to reach the top. Man…I really need to get back in shape!

With all of us at the top, and gasping for air, especially me, we found, not a light, but instead what it seemed to be a large crystal ball, that was colored a bright blue. But there was also something else there…more like someone else. We saw a dark figure that looked very familiar. She was covered head to toe in blackness as if she fell in a pile of soot, and never shook it off.

"Huh? That looks just like me!" Sora exclaimed and covered her mouth with a gasp.

The dark figure turned her head and looked in our direction and opened her eyes; they too, were a bright blue. She smiled while folding her arms and leaning against the large crystal ball. She looked at us up and down, as if to find something strange about us.

"Tch, not you guys either huh?" She said with a distasteful attitude.

"Are you…Sora?" Matt spoke.

"I could be - what's it to ya?" She started to act like a real punk now, but it didn't bother Matt. I wonder why.

"Well…" Matt started acting real embarrassed.

"Well what? Speak up if you have to say something!" The dark figure angrily said while sticking her nose up in the air.

"Well…you look a lot like Sora…but you're all black…who are you?"

"I'm, well…I shouldn't bother telling you" She suddenly changed her mind at the last moment, as if to say we weren't good enough to find out who she really was. "Though, do you have a crest on you?" She started to look interested in Matt.

"I do…why?"

"What…_kind_ of crest?" The dark figure started to approach Matt.

Matt pulled the crest out of his pocket and realized it was glowing bright blue.

"Hey, it seems to be reacting to something…maybe that crystal ball" Izzi deducted.

"So, you ARE the one!" The dark figure said, surprised. "But, you look so…weak…why?" She acted puzzled now, but still approached Matt, now almost face to face. "Well, I'll tell you what - you hand over the crest, and I'll let you go, ok?" She smiled.

"What? No! I need this!" Matt said with an angry tone.

"What for?" The dark figure curiously asked.

"Because, I need it to…save the digital world"

I slapped my hand on my forehead. Matt, you don't go tell random strangers who look like Sora, except who appears to obviously be sinister and tell them that you're gonna save the world. You're not Superman ok?

"Pff, YOU? Save the digital world?" The figure chuckled. "Look, pal, as long as my master is alive, you're not going to save the digital world alright? As a matter of fact, I was personally sent here to destroy you and retrieve your crest, because without it, you wouldn't have a snowball's chance in hell to defend the digital world" She snarled at Matt.

"Your master?" Matt started to get a hang of what's actually going on here.

"Yes, my master, our lord, Sable - he's the strongest, in all the digital world, and he's going to recreate it into a utopia for his creations! And he promised ME that I would be his queen after he was finished reshaping his empire" The figure was setting her eyes on Matt's crest, "Now you'll give it to me, Laura, future queen, or you'll have to fight me"

"Wh-what?" Matt had no way out of this now.

The others didn't know what to do either. Even though they all looked on in fear, we honestly knew there was no way of defeating Laura. Not even I knew what to do. Because as far as I know so far, my power only works when I come in contact with water or fire.

"I see we're gonna have to do this the hard way!" Laura stepped forward and grabbed Matt's shirt, lifting him into the air and pushing him against the wall.

"Matt! You should've decked her or something!" I yelled.

"I can't hit her! She's a girl!" Matt complained.

"Oh come on!" I yelled back at him.

"Heh heh heh, now you'll be nice and drop the crest!" Laura lifted him further up the wall. She was almost gonna choke him.

"Grrg, Tai! Izzi! Sora! Think of something!" He shouted desperately.

The three of us were still shocked. We still didn't know what to do. But I was gonna give it a shot. I jumped at Laura about to grab her from behind.

"Hah!" I jumped behind her.

Laura turned her head around and with a sparkle in her eye, she threw her other fist into my stomach. But that wasn't all, she shot several hundred volts of electricity into my abdomen. It felt painful, but I didn't keel over just yet.

"Ha ha ha! Trying to jump me from behind? Think again fool!" She cackled.

"Oh yeah? Try doing that again!" I jumped at her again, and again she thrusted her fist into my stomach releasing another charge of electricity.

"Tai!" Sora cried.

I started to feel my vision blur, but I knew exactly what I was doing. If I was paying attention to what has been happening to me, then I have the perfect plan. I jumped at her again, but this time she let out a large grunting noise and instead threw Matt at me!

"Oof!" Both me and Matt said.

"Thanks Tai…at least for now" Matt jumped on his feet and began throwing punches at Laura.

Laura was blocking all of Matt's punches with her arm. Hooks, straight punches, and even one uppercut. She was quite good. Very good. She had another shine in her eye, and she saw an opening that Matt left open by mistake.

"Matt, look out!" I shouted, while getting up off the floor.

But it was too late. Matt received the blow to his solarplex. A good pressure point that hurts a lot.

"Augh!" Matt belted out.

"I'm not done yet!" Laura started beating the crap out of Matt. Beads of sweat were flying off of Matt, as Laura was pounding him with her fists, left and right. Matt was holding for dear life on to his crest, but soon the grip loosened. "Now!" Laura said while delivering a final blow to Matt's face as he fell to the floor.

Matt dropped the crest.

"Aha! Finally!" She was about to pick it up when I took it from her instead. "Wha?!"

I stepped to the side while putting the crest around my neck.

"Now, that Matt is down, you'll have to get through me!"

"Why, you jerk!" Laura shouted, "Give it back!" Laura lunged at me while jumping through the air. Her fist was positioned to hit me face first as it was being charged with electricity. "I WILL BECOME QUEEN!" She said in a rage. What she didn't know was that she was playing right into my hands.

I was in my trance again. Ideas were rushing through my head. Then it hit me literally. Her fist and the charge of electricity hit me in my face. Indeed it hurt, but it was going according to my plan. With one of my eyes, slightly open, I stumbled across Matt who was on the ground, barely conscious.

"I will get you!" Laura ran towards me. I picked Matt off the floor and put him in front of me as to use him as a shield. "Using him as a shield?" Laura picked up Matt, high above her head, cackling like a mad man. "Now, you have no place to run!" She tossed Matt straight at me, and I ducked with precision. "No! Oh no!" Laura knew exactly what was going to happen next. Matt collided with the crystal ball, cracking it.

All of us watched closely, even Laura, as we saw the crystal ball starting to crack more and more. The cracks were all over the ball, and within a few seconds, it smashed into hundreds of pieces.

Matt started to pick himself off of the floor. The shattered pieces of the ball were being absorbed into his body. We all watched as Matt slowly turned around, all wounds healed, and with fury in his eyes.

"Matt! Catch!" I threw Matt's crest towards him, and he caught it without even looking. Matt put the crest around his neck. His eyes also turned bright blue. He smiled an evil smile.

Laura was backing up towards the wall and was terrified.

"Well, well, Laura…" Matt began to say. "You want this crest? You want it?"

"No, no! I don't want it anymore! Please!" Laura begged.

Without a moments notice, Matt lunged at Laura, his fist turning into a ball of water, punching Laura in the face so hard, she collapsed to the floor.

"I'm not done with you yet!" Matt pointed both of his fists towards Laura, and shot streams of water onto her, as she started to slowly disappear.

"No! My master! Nooo!" Her voice echoed throughout the lighthouse. Those were her final words.

It was over.

Outside we sat in a circle conversing with one another.

"This is pretty cool! I can control water! Sweet!" Matt was amazed with his newfound power and was pretty proud of it.

The rest of us were laughing and telling jokes. We tried to forget about poor Laura who met her watery demise. While Matt, and Sora were laughing with each other, Izzi came closer to me and whispered:

"So this must be what's awaiting us at each destination…a power for each of us to aid us in the battle against…what was his name?"

"Sable, was his name, if I remember correctly" I told Izzi.

We began to laugh and tell jokes as well.

It was good that Matt got a new power, but that wasn't the strangest thing that happened. Within my trance I heard that strange voice again tell me,

"Tai, I have been seeing that you are using good use of your power…but this time you must now know something crucial - only the one destined to receive the power from the crystal can break it, else it will not break…remember this Tai! And help save the digital world!"


	5. Chapter 4

-1"So, Izzi! Where to next?" Matt excitedly said. He was still looking back and forth from his two fists that can apparently control water. He even shot me in the face with the water, and it stung quite a bit too. He thought it was some kind of funny practical joke and laughed at it. Matt tucked away his crest back in his pocket, just in case somebody else came looking for it.

"According to my computer, we need to head East" Izzi answered.

"And where does that lead to?" Matt said with enthusiasm.

"It leads to Sora's destination actually…" Izzi turned and faced Sora, "Are you ready for this Sora? You now know what danger lies ahead"

"Uh…" Sora nervously jittered.

"Ha ha! Don't worry Sora, I'll protect you!" Matt laughed while flexing his muscles.

"Really, Matt, you don't have to go over the top with that" I told Matt.

"But seriously though! I can actually fight for myself! Whoever's in my way, I'll just kick their butt so hard, it'll kiss the moon!" Matt wholeheartedly laughed again.

Izzi sighed, as if he wasn't impressed with Matt showing off, "Ok Matt…we'll be counting on you to protect us ok?"

"No problem!" Matt gave Izzi the thumbs up.

So with that, we were off. Heading through the dry lands, eastward of the lighthouse, we began afoot to Sora's new destination. The ground was very rough so it made my feet hurt a little through my shoes. I don't know how everyone else felt though. I put on my goggles to protect my eyes from all the dust that was being kicked up with our feet and the wind. Nobody else seemed to mind though.

I was getting sorta thirsty. I thought about asking Matt to give me some water, but he might spray it in my mouth so hard, that it might sting. It wouldn't make it worthwhile afterwards.

The sun was starting to set, yet it was still bright enough for us to see. The clouds starting to come rolling inwards and it was getting cold again. None of the others showed sign of feeling cold, so I didn't bother asking if they were or not.

"Say Matt…" Sora began to talk.

"Yeah, Sora?" Matt answered.

"Do you think…I have to fight whoever's guarding the crystal?"

"No need to worry, Sora, I'll take care of them for you"

"But what if it were a task that only I could endure?"

"Well, I'll still help…"

"Hmm…ok, ok - I trust you" Sora was feeling very nervous in her words. I could feel it.

Soon, out from the dry place we came walking onto some pavement. It was a road of some sort. This started to feel like I was back in the human world again. It certainly felt nice to walk around with my friends. Maybe there was a city up ahead, who knows?

"Hey guys, a bus!" Matt pointed ahead of us. There was a bus stopped at a, well, bus stop. "Let's go take it!" Matt went running ahead of us.

"But what if it doesn't go the right way?" I asked Izzi.

"Well according to my computer, there is only one path to go from here - it would have to go directly to Sora's place…it should be faster to take this bus" Izzi said while running for Matt.

"Matt, Izzi, wait!" Sora shouted and waving her arm running after the two.

"Well I guess this would make our trip easier," I said aloud.

So, eventually, we were all on the bus. The bus on the inside looked like a school bus. The seats were all positioned horizontally, two big chairs per row. Of course we all sat at the front, because every kid knows that sitting at the front of the bus is the best. At least, that's what I was told.

I sat with Izzi, and Matt sat with Sora. Sooner than later, the bus took off. The bus was heated and it felt very nice. I sank into my chair and looked out one of the windows and watched as the forestry scenery was passing by my eyes. Izzi couldn't help himself but type on his computer. I overheard Matt and Sora talk,

"Wow, what a coincidence" Sora gulped.

"Why so nervous Sora?" Matt wondered.

"Because now, I'm going to deal with my for sooner than later now" Sora's eyes shifted back and forth.

"I told you not to worry about that! I told you that I'd protect you, no matter what!" Matt looked into Sora's eyes seriously. "You have to trust me, ok?"

"Oh, ok Matt, ok" Sora nervously smiled back at Matt. Sora glanced at me and Izzi, smiled and waved at me.

I waved back. Without making myself seem more embarrassed, I turned to Izzi and asked him,

"So, are we on the right track?"

"Yes, we are…we're going at an astonishingly fast pace" Izzi said, while raising his voice with excitement.

"Well, that means we can quickly get this over with, right?"

"I suppose so, Tai…"

I sank into my chair again, looking outside the window of the bus. The trees were going by, and it was relaxing. Very relaxing. The sun shining through high up in the sky, the cold air I felt at my feet, rising up to my face, it was nice. Very, very nice. I turned once again to face Izzi and he seemed pretty angry.

"Clak, clak, clak" Went the sounds of him typing on the keyboard really loud.

"What's wrong Izzi?" He never seemed so angry at his computer like this before.

"Ugh, I can't believe this! My laptop isn't responding to a thing I do!" Izzi was really frustrated.

Hm, strange, I thought. Maybe it's just a bug with his computer. It happens sometimes I guess. The bus ride began to get a little bumpy. I looked outside the window and wondered if we were still right on course. Hm…yup, we were. The road just had a few bumps in it, that's all.

"Hey, Izzi…are we still going the right way?"

"How should I know? My computer isn't responding!" Izzi was getting furious.

Maybe…if I asked the bus driver. He should know. I walked up to the front of the bus and saw a dark figure driving the bus carefully with precision.

"I can see you standing right behind me, what do you want?" The driver asked me.

"Um…where are we headed?" I politely asked.

"We're going to where I always go - back an forth, day in and day out - I drive everyone in town…well, if there ever is anyone in town…oh well," He let out a deep sigh, "I'm glad I picked you folks up" He glanced at me and turned back at his wheel. "You don't look like you're around from these parts… who are you?"

"Me? I'm Tai, and you?"

"Tai, Tai, what a great name - I'm of course named Lucas…I take the form of one of those, er, digi-destined, or whatcha-ma-call-its…I don't know why, but that's how my master created me" What? What was this guy talking about?

"You don't mean Sable do you?"

"Heh, who else would I mean?" Lucas said while taking a turn around a bend in the road. "By the way, who are the other people on the bus?"

I could've said who we were. But just to play it safe, I decided to wait until we got to where we needed to be. I had a hunch he was one of Sable's henchmen. Who he took to form of, I didn't really know yet. I couldn't get a clear view of who he was.

"Them? Ah, well…we're just low class citizens of the, uh…new empire!" I sounded like a nervous wreck.

"Oh, them? Well, you can never tell with them…not to be offensive to you guys, but you're all so wishy-washy with things…no wonder you're taking this bus - probably you were bored" Lucas said in an under toning voice.

"Yeah, that must be it" I said so sarcastically.

I went back to sit with Izzi, when I heard the bus come to a halt.

"First and last stop! Everyone, off the bus!" I heard Lucas yell over the intercom.

We all piled off of the bus, including Lucas who looked at lot like Joe…one of the other digi-destined.

"Hey, don't you look like…" I ran over and covered Matt's mouth before he could say anything else.

"Matt!" I whispered, "He's one of Sable's creations! I bet he's trying to protect the next crystal from us!"

"Oh, well why didn't you say so?" Matt shoved me aside and pointed his fist towards Lucas. "Hi, my name's Matt and I'm going to demolish you now"

It fell silent. I could faintly see a tumbleweed, going past us in the distance. Lucas, took a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and a lighter. He lit one and began to smoke.

"Ahh…" he said with relief.

"I SAID, I'm going to demolish you now!" Matt was getting mad that he was being ignored. "I SAID…!"

"SHUT UP!" Lucas shouted at Matt. "I'm trying to have a smoke here, do you mind?"

"Do you even know who I am? I'm Matt, I have a crest…aren't you going to stop me?"

"So what if you are? I'm not interested in you…" Lucas retorted.

Sora, shivering, starting hiding behind my back.

"You're one of Sable's creations, and it is my duty to wipe you off from the face of this planet…I cannot allow you to bring destruction to this world!" Matt said all in one breath.

"I don't really care what you say to me" Lucas took another drag from his cigarette, "I'm only interested in one thing…the crest of the crest of love"

"The crest of love?" Sora thought aloud to herself.

"It is that crest, that I want…I don't want yours" Lucas was talking smack about Matt now. "I can already tell you defeated Laura…so what? She was a pushover anyways; the weakest of the weakest; she couldn't defend her own dinner, even from a pack of sloths!" Lucas said while taking in another drag.

"So you know that we're the digi-destined?"

"You are?" Lucas was surprised.

"Matt!" I shouted, with displeasure.

"I thought you were one of the creations of Sable! I didn't know you were the one who killed her!" Lucas put out his cigarette on the ground and stepped on it. "Now that I know, I know that one of you has the crest of love…which one of you has it?!" Lucas demanded.

"I do…" Sora said while quietly putting up her hand.

"No, Sora! I'll defeat him! Just watch!" Matt charged his hands with water and rushed Lucas.

Matt was punching him in his face several times. You could hear the punches and the water impacting on Lucas' face. Matt gave Lucas a good few punches here and there, and even kicked him in the side of the head with water charged on his foot. I didn't know Matt was such good at fighting. However…with all the punches and kick Matt delivered, Lucas didn't even move…he didn't even flinch.

Lucas corrected his glasses, because he was in the shape of Joe, and looked back at Matt and said, "Are you done?" Lucas threw a punch at Matt's head, but he dodged it and stepped to the side. Matt charged a large ball of water in his right hand and delivered a powerful right hook to Lucas' face as the water splashed everywhere. Again…didn't flinch.

"What's wrong with this guy?" Matt puffed. But it seemed like he wasn't done quite yet. Matt threw more and more punches, and the more Lucas took. Not even a scratch on Lucas' face! Not even one bruise! What was going on?

"Look, I can make it easy for you…" Lucas calmly said, "You can either let the chick over there, give me the crest, or you can still bash me away…your choice"

Matt was confused as any one of us were. He didn't want to waste more energy, so he stood back and tried to come up with a plan. As he was doing this, Lucas approached Sora and gave an evil smile.

"Give me the crest, girl" Lucas ordered.

"But you're not so tough yourself…what are gonna do if she doesn't?" I challenged him.

"I may lack strength, but I make up for it in defense…I can waste your energy until you're good enough to drop, then I'll take this girls' crest"

"Oh yeah? Try me!" I took a fighting stance.

"Tai, no…this is my decision…I'll give you the crest," Sora came forward and confronted Lucas.

"Sora, no!" Both me and Matt shouted.

"I'm glad you could cooperate with me…now hand it over,"

Before Sora gave up her crest she slapped Lucas in the face. Hard.

"How dare you take advantage of us!" Sora screamed.

Without noticing there was a wall of dust in the air. We couldn't see anything. A few moments later, the dust cleared and we saw Lucas, smashed into the bus so hard, it made a dent in it.

"HOLY…" Matt couldn't finish his sentence.

"Did…I do that?" Sora looked at her hands.

"Haw haw haw!" He heard someone cackle. That voice sounded familiar. "Hee hee hee, haw haw haw!" We all heard a thump on top of the bus.

"It's you!" I shouted at him while looking on top of the bus. It looked like Mischief, had the same laugh, and he was carrying a torch with a purple flame in it. He, too, was also purple.

The purple creature jumped off of the bus and landed.

"What do you mean, 'it's you'?" The imp questioned.

"You're…Mischief, aren't you?" Sora said before I could.

"Who, me? Naw! I'm Irony!" He laughed as he was wiping the tears away from his eyes. "Unlike my pal Mischief, I cause ironic situations to happen…I turned a setting sun, back into the sky again, I turned the heating on the bus cold, and I made your laptop freeze…sorry, buddy, hee hee hee" He said while pointing at Izzi.

"Well at least it works _now_" Izzi said while typing on his computer.

"Seriously though, that was funny…I set up the pins and striked them down! You, Sora, being weak, made you incredibly strong! Ironic, 'aint it? Haw haw haw" Irony said while falling over onto his back.

Matt stepped forward.

"Well why couldn't you make me stronger?"

"Because…" Irony got up, "…you're already strong as is…just not, so, stupid strong you could probably kill someone with a slap…just like you've seen here - if you want me to, I can make you weak" Irony suggested.

"Nah…I'd rather not" Matt said in a huff while folding his arms and turning his head to the side.

"Oh, by the way…you guys heading to the lighthouse?"

"Oh, yeah, we were on our way getting there…where is it by the way?"

Irony pointed ahead of us. Just about one hundred paces from where you're standing right now. We all turned around and saw that we were in a city of some sort and that there was a lighthouse…almost like in the middle of it.

With Irony leading us towards and up the lighthouse we reached the crystal, in what seemed to be like a matter of seconds.

"Well, here we are…" Irony obviously stated, "…though I don't know what to do next"

"Break it!" I shouted.

Everyone turned to me as if waiting for an explanation.

"Well…that's what happened with Matt's right?"

"Huh, good point" Izzi pointed out.

"Go on Sora, give it a try…you'll be super strong while you do it too" Irony said, jumping up and down and smiling.

"Well, ok…" Sora stepped towards to pink crystal ball, while putting her new crest around her neck while it glowed. "Here goes…" Sora said while giving the crystal ball a weak punch. With such hard force, that Irony gave Sora, the crystal ball immediately broke into hundreds of pieces. The shards were being absorbed into Sora's body.

"Wow, cool! I feel so light…"

"That's because now, you control the winds…go ahead, try it out" Irony told Sora.

Sora raised her hands into the air, and a sudden burst of wind came from nowhere and lifted Sora into the air.

"Ahh!" Sora screamed with excitement. "I'm flying!" Sora swooped down and flew all over the room and came to a stop and dropped back to earth. "That was…amazing!"

"Hah! I found you!" We heard as we turned and saw Lucas by the staircase gasping for air. "Now that you have the power of the wind, you cannot harm me anymore!"

"Izzi!" Irony shouted, "You know what to do!"

"Right!" Izzi nodded his head, ran up to Lucas and punched him head on. Lucas went flying towards the wall and hit it hard and fell to the floor.

"Ironic, 'aint it? Now, Sora, finish him off!"

"Right!" Sora nodded her head. She raised her hands into the air and started floating. She held her hand out in front of her and turned it around so her palm was facing upwards. She blew on her hand as if she was blowing a kiss, but instead she was blowing a tremendous wind that picked up debris that was lying on the ground and was being pelted by it one by one.

"Sable will get you guys for this…!" Lucas said, while shaking his fist at Sora and slowly disappeared.

Outside we gathered and celebrated Sora's new power. We were chatting amongst ourselves, when Irony interrupted us.

"Well, guys, I'm gonna be off…if I stay out here any longer I may be caught and well…you know…don't want to perish and all"

"We understand" Izzi said. "We might even see you again sometime later"

"Hopefully…" Irony quietly said to himself.

And with that, we were seeing Irony off, still with the flame in his hand. We were waving goodbye and wishing our farewells, hoping to see him again someday.


	6. Chapter 5

-1A few moments earlier before Laura's death on a mysterious place in the digital world, a dark lord resides in his throne, taking control of his refurnishing of the world. He sits in his throne, which is also covered in darkness. Few lights were built in his palace to keep from intruders finding there way to find him. Even still, he is powerful enough to crush them with a single glance. A figure so dark, not many of his servants can actually tell what he looks like. A meeting was held in accordance with news to the dark lord.

"Tell me…what has been happening up to this point? I heard those meddling chumps got away with my punishment" The suave-talking lord said.

In front of him, stood all dark figures, too dark to see as well.

"Yes…we hunted them down, but they were too fast, even for us" One figure said.

"What have I created you to do then? To fail?!" Bellowed their lord.

"I'm sorry, we couldn't do a thing…" The figure responded.

"I'll see to it that you'll be punished later…now return to your post guarding the crystal!" The lord ordered, and with a silent hush, the dark figure disappeared.

"Come forward, Laura…" The lord demanded.

"Yes, my liege?" Laura came forward, addressing her master as proper.

"I know that you are weak…that is because I made you so - but make sure to stall the children…"

"…but my lord!" Laura cried, "I shall defeat them, and I shall become your queen as promised!"

"Don't you EVER interrupt ME!" The lord yelled and shook the room.

"I'm sorry…" Laura shivered.

"I do not know why, why I ever made that promise to you…but I shall make sure you will become my queen…I'll see to it that you will…" The lord deeply chuckled to himself.

"I still do not understand…why did you create the crystals in the first place, if you knowingly can tell that the children can break them?" Another figure spoke.

"Ah…that is all part of my plan, you see…" The lord took in a deep breath of air and exhaled it with pleasure. "Convincing the children that their power would be great enough to defeat me is deceiving…if I could, I would destroy them right now…"

"Well, why not?" Another dark figure spoke.

"That is because, if I did, their crests would disappear, and THAT is what I need to become even STRONGER!" The lord raised his fist into the air. "They will come to me, I know that they will, and I take their crests, and hold them prisoner for the rest of their lives!" The lord spoke enthusiastically.

"But there is that one child…" Laura spoke again.

"Yes…there IS that one child…BUT I highly doubt he will come to his senses and realize his true power…"

"What if he does?" Laura asked.

The lord turned his back on everyone, looking down, looking up, and paused for a while. He turned back to face Laura.

"IF he does…" The lord pointed out. "I shall have no choice…to sacrifice my kingdom, to sacrifice everything I've done…'if' he does, I shall have to…"

"Oh…" Laura sounded depressed. "Then I shall…!"

"Do NOT even say you can stop him! You are weak! You are nothing! You mean nothing to me! GO! And defend that crystal before they arrive!" The lord screamed and shook the room again.

Without a moment's notice, Laura slowly backed away, her arm hanging on to the other, and disappeared.

"Everyone else…leave…back to your posts!"

Everyone else followed suit and left after Laura.

"You know, you should really watch your temper…" A voice said.

"Who's there?"

The unknown person stepped into the only light in the room. He appeared tall and was wearing a black and white striped suit. He was wearing shiny dress shoes that seemed to be recently polished. His hands were in his pockets and his tie was underneath his coat. He was wearing small, rectangular glasses beneath his slanted, yet dark eyes. His hair was spiky and was black.

"You…" The dark lord was dissatisfied with who it was and turned his back on him.

"I see you are still calling yourself the 'dark lord'…at least that's what everyone else is saying…hm hm hm" The well-dressed man chuckled.

"It is my wish to be called so…and they're my creations, I can do whatever the hell I want with them" The dark lord told the man with a snobbish voice.

"I'm glad though, really glad…that you didn't mention anyone else about me"

"It was in the deal…"

"Sable…my friend…" The man leaned forward with a grin on his face. "Me, the ace of spades, knowing your only weakness, fear me…the great, and omnipotent, 'dark lord'" The man mocked.

"Yes…it is sad to say, but yes…"

"Do you not trust me?"

"I do trust your advice…but I can assure you that these children CAN be crushed with my men and me alone!"

"What about MY men?" The man stood back and straightened his glasses. "You know yourself, that you can never create something that is as strong as you are, else you would lie in fear as it would try and dethrone you…you lie in fear everyday don't you? Because of that child, isn't it?"

Sable didn't respond.

"I'll have you know though, that I can get his crest, before you do!" The man shouted back at him. "And then I shall be the most powerful and destroy this world! Then, only then, can I rid this place for good, and the human world can go live in peace without these - these…THINGS you collected for your own power" The man turned his back as if he were to leave.

"Digimon, they're called" Sable corrected the man.

"Yuck! Digimon?! What a horrid name!" The man started to leave the room. "I'll be glad once their kind is wiped out completely, and that this…filth of a planet will be gone" The man left the room, with a smell of rivalry.

Sable paced his room back and forth, talking aloud to himself.

"Those children…what if they learn to obtain the extent of their powers…then it wouldn't only be that child but…" Sable then stopped in his steps and disappeared himself, into the night.


	7. Chapter 6

-1After our encounter with Irony and Sora's crystal, we all decided to look around this strange town that's strangely enough, abandoned by what it seems. We walk around through some of the streets, looking at all the stores this weird place has to offer. Candy stores, toy stores, electronic stores - well of course, it's the digital world. Sora hasn't said a word since about her newfound powers since she got them and defeated Lucas. As a matter of fact, she hasn't even been using them, just to test out what extent her powers may have. Unlike Matt over here, who tries to show them off every opportunity he has.

"You know, it seems like this place is abandoned" Matt obviously states.

"Well of course…I bet these stores were packed with Digimon of every kind until this new, uh, 'evil' came; Sable came and took away the Digimon, so said Mischief" Izzi stated intuitively.

"Still…it would be a lot better if we could get some service around here, you know, a little tour around town" Matt sighed.

"We should find a place to rest soon you guys, it's getting past…I don't know, if it were the human world, I'd say past 4 or 5 in the afternoon" I told everyone.

"You're right - we should find a place to stay, but where?" Izzi held his chin and stroked it with his fingers.

"Hey, look guys!" Sora pointed out with an excited tone in her voice, "There! That looks like a hotel over there!"

Surely enough, there was a big building ahead of us that was very tall, painted completely white, and had windows on every floor. If that wasn't a place to stay for the night, then I don't know what is.

So, we all hurried to the building. Once inside (and yes, the door was unlocked) we looked around for someone.

"Hello!" Matt yelled, his voice echoing in the building.

We heard no answer.

"Hello!!" Matt yelled even louder, and still no answer. "Dammit, I guess there's nobody home…guess we can't stay here,"

"Matt, uh, why not? Since there's nobody here, why can't we stay here? I bet the rooms are all free" I told Matt.

"Hey, you're right! I'll go on ahead and check this place out just to make sure nobody else is here…don't wanna run into any bad people on the way - because if I do…" Matt flexed his right arm and winked.

"Fine, fine, you do that Matt, we'll wait here" I deeply sighed. See what I mean? Just to show off.

I heard Matt running up the stairs like lightning, hearing his footsteps trample this place down.

But…wait…

"Hack…!" I coughed, and almost choked on my own spit that I swallowed. I fell to the floor clutching my neck because it was still hurting.

"Tai! Are you ok?" Sora was worried. She came beside me, put her hand on my back and patted it to make me feel better.

"Th-thump!" I heard my heart skip a beat, time seemed to slow down…I was getting a headache again. Why? There wasn't any sign for me to feel this way, at least not now. Now my hand clutching my forehead, I slowly opened my eyes. I could see something.

I could see Matt. I can see him running up the stairs. As he gets to the second floor, a man - a human it seems is standing by the corner and grabs Matt! No Matt! Watch out! I wanted to scream. But my words could get not get across. Before Matt could react, the man pulls out a needle filled with a purple liquid and injects it into Matt's right arm. I can see the man slowly backing away from Matt, as Matt holds his head and starts to shake violently. After a few more seconds Matt regains himself and opens his eyes…his pupils were purple. I could clearly see it.

"Agh!" I gasped as if I was running out of breath and jumped up off the floor.

"Tai?!" Sora said with concern.

"Sorry, Sora…I'm alright…really…" I told her.

"You sure? You don't need any help? Maybe we can find a hospital around here, and…"

"No, really, I'm ok, I'm ok…" I looked over at Izzi while he wasn't looking the slightest bit concerned. He just stared right back at me. I wonder why?

"Hey guys, I'm back!" We heard Matt as he was running back down the stairs.

"So, Matt, any, weird - or strange things up there?" Izzi asked with a sarcastic tone in his voice.

"Uh, yeah…we have to go…right now…we can't stay here…" Matt sounded like his voice was cracking up.

"You ok Matt?" I asked.

"Uh, yeah…I'm just fine…" Matt looked straight into my eyes.

His eyes aren't purple. At least not anymore. What did I see while I was in that state of mind?

"Tai?" Matt jumped at me.

"Yes?" I responded.

"We, uh…better get going now…ok?" Matt sounded a little shaky.

"Uh, sure ok…" Maybe it would be best. I don't know what happened to Matt, but whatever did probably would happen to the rest of us if we went up there.

So we headed out back onto the street, but there was a note left on the ground.

"Hey, a note!" Sora picked up the note with barely legible letters on it and read it aloud, " 'excuse us for abandoning the…the town…there is another place, East of here…and there is a howl? No, house there…there is plenty of room and food for the…four of you' and it ends there" Sora started to mumble to herself.

"Now if that isn't obviously suspicious, I don't know what is…but let's go anyway" Izzi said with a straight face.

"Ok…" Boy, our group is getting weirder, and weirder.

Shortly after disposing of the mysterious letter, we headed East of the hotel. It was either East of the hotel or East of the letter that was left on the ground. Izzi said it would be best to head East of the hotel because we'd just be heading back West, where we came from, from Matt's lighthouse.

So, as the cobblestone streets were slowly disappearing, a path showed up with grassy planes beside both ends. It was very nice to look at indeed. As we headed on, the sun was slowly going down, and Matt seemed to regain his poseur. We really had nothing to say except for what I wanted to say of what I saw what seemed to happen to Matt. It would seemingly explain why Matt was starting to act weird, but not Izzi.

The sun was now down, and it was dark outside. The nice cool breeze flowing through the air had a nice smell to it. Peachy, if I'd say so.

It was not long before we came to a small grove which contained a wooden house and a peach tree planted right beside it.

"Hey, I guess this is the place guys!" I shouted and pointed towards the house.

"No need to shout Tai, it's right in front of us" Izzi pointed out with an annoyed look on his face.

We went inside the house and it had a second floor to it. Everything in here was made out of wood it seemed.

We all made our way to the second floor of the building and it had two separate rooms. One with three beds, and another, with just one. They both looked the same, mind you, but it seemed oddly fitted for us.

"I'm getting really tired…I'm gonna hit the hay in a second" Sora yawned and headed towards the room she assumed was hers.

"I'm gonna…uh, get something to eat…" Matt said, again with that shake in his voice. So Matt headed downstairs towards an open room, me and Izzi couldn't see from the second floor. I assumed it was the kitchen.

"Tai…may I speak with you for a few moments…privately?" Izzi asked me seriously and headed towards the boys' room.

We sat down and Izzi set up his laptop.

"Tai, give me your digivice…" Izzi demanded without looking away from his computer.

"Uh, ok…" I compliantly said and handed over my digivice.

"Hmm…just as I though…" Izzi stood up and looked out the balcony window that was provided for us.

"Tai, come here" Izzi motioned his hands for me to come where Izzi was.

"Ok…" I didn't know what was going on, but I had a slight clue.

"See over there?" Izzi pointed outside the window to a small pathway covered by overgrown grass.

"Yeah?"

"See that? Just beyond there, according to my computer, is your destination" Izzi said without turning to face me.

"Really? Well that's good isn't it?" I was excited now. I didn't know that my crystal was so close. I wonder what power I was going to receive.

"Stop pulling us along down your path to the destruction of the digital world!" Izzi turned around and grabbed my shirt.

"Wh-what do you mean?" NOW what was going on?

"You know exactly what I mean…" Izzi let go of my shirt, "How you were able to defeat Mischief so easily, how you knew to crack the crystals to gain power, and I caught a glimpse of your dead eyes back at the hotel in the town…this is just a hunch, but something is definitely wrong…" Izzi glared back at me.

"No, but, seriously…nothing's going on!"

"Then explain why these things were, and still are, happening to you!" Izzi commanded from me.

"Um…maybe I'm a good guesser?" I shrugged my shoulders with a stupid smile on my face.

"Seriously, Tai…I must know…for the sake of the digital world…"

"Well…I guess there's no way out of this one is there…" I sat Izzi down on our separate beds, and I told Izzi what was happening to me ever since that incident where I learned about my trance that I go in whenever I experience fire, water, or electricity, threatening my life.

"Hmm…" Izzi got off his bed and headed back to the window, "I still can't believe you on the basis of what you just told me…"

"Come on Izzi! I don't know what's going on myself, but that's seriously what's happening!" I got off my bed and looked at the back of Izzi's head waiting for an answer.

"…HOWEVER…if you can get your power from your crystal right now, without the help from Matt, or Sora, then I'll believe you…" Izzi turned around and pointed his index finger at me.

"Is that seriously the only way?" I was getting kind of scared…what if I couldn't defend myself from any threat - what then?

"Yes, it is…if you come back without a battle scar I'll know that you're in cahoots with Sable…so I must see that you fought in some way or another to prove your innocence…" I couldn't believe the words that were coming out of Izzi's mouth. He WANTS to see me wounded in some way.

But, oh well. If that what he wants, then that's what he'll get. Feh! I can defend myself! I may be acting a bit cocky, and maybe a bit scared, but I'm sure I can do this. I've done it before, and I can do it again too.

"Fine! I'll do it!" I shouted at Izzi. Without saying another word, I turned my back on him and left the room.

Down the stairs and through the front door, I headed to the small path that Izzi pointed out to me. Finding it quickly, around the side of the house, I walked through the path which was covered by trees on either side. Within moments, I came to a clearing of grass. There, stood the tall building, but there was no light coming from it.

"Ahem!" I heard a loud cough coming from behind me. I turned around and saw a very tall and robust figure, standing with orange-plated armour and a red mask over his face. He was also carrying a staff with a sun-shaped emblem on the end of it.

"Who…" I started.

"I AM SOLMON! GUARDIAN OF THE SUN!" His voice rumbled while interrupting me. "I CAN CLEARLY SEE THAT YOU CARRY WITH YOU THE CREST OF THE SUN!"

"What, this…?" I pulled out my crest from my pocket, and almost immediately realized the words that were coming out of his mouth. "-MON? Did you just say -MON?"

"WHY, YES I DID!" Solmon proudly said.

"You're…a…a…Digimon!" I cried, almost with tears coming to my eyes.

"INDEED I AM A DIGIMON - I HAVE AVOIDED SABLE AND I SHALL CONTINUE TO, THANKS TO MY KNOWLEDGE!" Solmon said while looking down at me.

"Wow! I still can't believe…a Digimon!" I almost forgot that I had something to do first, "By the way, why did you want to see my crest?"

"VERILY, I DO NOT NEED TO SEE BECAUSE I KNOW! AND I KNOW BECAUSE YOUR FLAME AWAITS YOU IN THE TOWER!"

"How did you know that my power awaited me in the lighthouse?" I figured it was fire, seeing how Matt was water, and Sora was wind.

"'TIS BECAUSE I KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT THE SUN AND HER CHILDREN - YOU MUST NOT WAIT ANY FURTHER AND PURSUE YOUR POWER!"

"Well…can't you just defeat whoever's at the top of the tower for me? Pretty please? I'm actually just weak, you see, without my digimon…" I asked from Solmon.

Solmon, bended his knees and leaned in really close to me and almost pushed his face into mine. His mask seemed to stare at me longingly and he then stood up again.

"I CANNOT DEFEND YOU, FOR MY FIGURE REJECTS ME…I AM WEAK…WEAKER THAN THE FOE WHO AWAITS YOU INSIDE…BUT LOOKING AT YOU, YOU CAN DEFEAT HIM…VERILY YOU CAN…" Solmon turned and looked away for a moment. "I STOLE THE LIGHT FROM THIS TOWER BECAUSE LIGHT KEEPS ME ALIVE…YOU COULD SAY THAT I MAKE THE SUN SET EVERY NIGHT…BUT BECAUSE I AM WEAK I MUST GO AND HIDE TO PROTECT MYSELF FROM THE EVILS THAT STILL LURK IN THIS WORLD…"

"But wait…I want you to see the others, and I want them to know that digimon still exist somehow in this world!" I cried out to Solmon. However, before I could say anything, he flew into the air and took off. I guess he isn't one for goodbye's. Still, I wish the others could have seen him.

I turned around and faced the tower. I wonder what awaited me atop the tower that was stronger than Solmon, but weaker than myself. I set forth unto the tower. It was dark inside. I could barely make out the spiralling staircase that ascended towards the top of the lighthouse. The climb wasn't as tiring as the others, only because I had adrenaline pumping through my body. I couldn't wait any longer to get to the top.

Finally, as I arrived…there was nobody there. I looked around but saw only a defused orange crystal and just the light coming from the moonlight from outside.

"Huh…" Nobody here. I gave the place a second look around. So without haste, I casually walked up to the crystal and readied a good punch for it when I suddenly felt a presence near me. "Who's there?" I shouted. I turned and saw a figure about my size, and in the moonlight I saw this kid wearing a top hat with a club suit on it. Like one from a deck of cards. He was wearing a dark blue suit and brown, classy shoes. He had a grin on his face.

"Know who I am, buddy?" The kid stepped towards me, talking in an adult-like voice.

"Uh…I take it that you're here to stop me, right?" I could feel myself sweating.

"Now, why would I want to stop YOU?" The kid turned his back on me and walked towards the window of the lighthouse. "Go ahead, take your power…but I'm not the one you should be concerned about right now.

"What, why?" Suddenly I heard a sharp scream.

"Kyaaaaaaa!" I heard. It sounded like Sora.

I knew what had to be done. It must be one of Sable's men. I turned and smashed the crystal with my fist, absorbing the shards of the crystal with my body. I put the crest around my neck and started to head towards the stairs.

"Wait!" The kid called for me.

"What?" I sharply asked him.

"If you don't stop me, I might hunt down your little friend, Solmon, and feed him to my master" The kid chuckled.

"Well…" I started second-guessing what I should do.

"Kyaaaaaa! Someone help me!" I heard Sora scream again.

"Dammit! I'll have to come back for you!" I jolted down the stairs as fast as I could.

"Doubt that you will! Hahahahaha!" I heard his laugh echo throughout the tower.

I fled the scene and ran back to the house to see someone pinning Sora up against the side of the building.

"Someone-Tai! Help me!" Sora spotted me and cried for my help.

"Stand back Sora!" I extended my arm in front of my face and covered the back of it with my other hand and fired a shot of fire from it towards the figure.

Without even flinching, the figure shot a blast of water from his own hand behind his back and put out my flame while colliding with it.

"Grah!" The figure turned around.

It was Matt!

"Grah! Gruh…Gaahh!" Matt turned at me, foaming at the mouth, and with those purple eyes I saw in my vision. "Tai! You want the girl? You can have her!" Matt picked up Sora and threw her at me.

Sora collided with my body. I picked myself up while letting Sora rest behind me. She was pretty shocked as to what has just happened to her.

"Matt! Stop this madness!" I demanded from Matt.

"I will DESTROY you Tai!" Matt screeched while his eyes began to turn red.


End file.
